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A Christmas miracle: Striking teachers rush inside burning home to save family

Five striking teachers dropped their picket signs to run inside a burning house across the street and save a family

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Updated: 4:16 PM CST Dec 20, 2016

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WEBVTT
SOMEONE THEY
ONCE TAUGHT.
REPORTER: FIREFIGHTERS WERE ON
THEIR WAY BUT TEACHERS ON AN
AMBRIDGE PICKET LINE DROPPED
THEIR PICKET SIGNS TO UNARE
INSIDE THE BURNING HOUSE AND
RESCUE PEOPLE INSIDE, INCLUDING,
AS IT TURNED OUT, A FORMER
STUDENT.
AMBRIDGE FIREFIGHTERS BATTLED
THIS SIX ALARM FIRE IN BITTER
COLD WITH HELP FROM NEIGHBORING
TOWNS.
IT WAS FIVE STRIKING AMBRIDGE
TEACHERS PROTESTING BY THE
SCHOOL WHO GOT THE AUTOPSY PANTS
OCCUPANTS OUT.
>> A LADY STREAMED CALL 911.
>> I DROPPED BY SIGN AND RAN
ACROSS THE STREET.
REPORTER: THE AMBRIDGE TEACHERS
PUT THEMSELVES IN DANGER TO GET
INSIDE THIS BURNING HOUSE.
>> THERE WAS SMOKE POURING OUT
OF THE ROOF.
AND WE WERE POUNDING -- I WAS
POUNDING ON THE FRONT DOOR, AND
I THINK EVENTUALLY THE FRONT
DOOR JUST KICKED THROUGH.
>> I'VE NEVER RUN INTO AULD
ABOUTING BEFORE THAT WAS ON
FIRE.
SHE'S ALREADY IN THE FRONT DOOR,
I GO IN AND I'M YELLING, ANYBODY
IN THE HOUSE?
GET OUT.
IT'S ON FIRE.
REPORTER: THEN THE TEACHERS
FOUND THREE PEOPLE, ONE ELDERLY,
ONE WITH MEDICAL OXYGEN, ONE A
WOMAN WHO THEY ONCE TAUGHT.
>> KAYLA IS A FORMER STUDENT OF
MINE AND I FELT THAT I HAD TOO
DO SOMETHING TO GET MY FAMILY
OUT.
>> THE GRANDFATHER ELDERLY HE
HAD TROUBLE WALKING, WE SAW
OXYGEN IN THE BUILDING AND WE
MADE SURE WE GOT THE OXYGEN OUT
OR TURNED IT OFF AND MADE SURE
TO HELP THEM OUT OF THE
BUILDING.
REPORTER: ONCE OUT THEY SAW THE
FIRE GET WORSE.
>> AFTER A COUPLE OF MINUTES YOU
SAW THE FLAMES SHOOTING OUT OF
THE ROOF.
REPORTER
ROOF.
>> THE TEACHERS WOULDN'T HAVE
BEEN THERE, SOMEBODY WOULDN'T
HAVE OBSERVED THAT THERE IS A
CHANCE SOMEBODY COULD HAVE BEEN
SERIOUSLY INJURED OR EVEN WORSE.
REPORTER: NO ONE HURT, NO WORD
ON THE CAUSE OF THE FIRE.
THE FIRE CHIEF BELIEVES THIS

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A Christmas miracle: Striking teachers rush inside burning home to save family

Five striking teachers dropped their picket signs to run inside a burning house across the street and save a family

Five striking teachers in a Pittsburgh school district picket line dropped their signs to run inside a burning house nearby and rescue three people inside, including a former student.
Local firefighters battled the six-alarm fire in bitter cold with help from neighboring towns Thursday. It was a handful of striking teachers protesting by the schools across Duss Avenue who got the occupants out.
"We were picketing and a lady across the street started shouting, 'Call 911!'" said Paul Hladio, one of the striking teachers.
"Instantaneously, I dropped my sign and ran across the street," said teacher Karen DeMarco.
"I just see her sprint across the road, almost get hit by a car," said Jeff Modrovich, another striking teacher who joined in the rescue, along with Pete Keller and Todd Hartman.
The teachers put themselves in danger to get inside the burning house.
"There was smoke pouring out of the roof, and we were pounding. I was pounding the front door, and eventually I think the front door just kicked through," DeMarco told Pittsburgh's Action News 4.
"I've never run into a building before that was on fire," Hladio said.
"She's already in the front door, I'm yelling, 'Anybody in the house, get out!' you know, 'It's on fire!'" Modrovich said.
Then the teachers found three people who lived in the home: one, elderly; one of them with medical oxygen; one, a woman whom they once taught.
"Kayla's a former student of mine and I just felt I had to do something to get that family out," DeMarco said.
"The grandfather, elderly, he had had trouble walking," Modrovich said.
"We made sure we got the oxygen out or turned it off and made sure to help them out of the building," Hladio said.
Once they were all out of the house, they saw the fire get worse.
"After a couple of minutes, you saw the flames shooting out of the roof," Modrovich said.
"If the teachers wouldn't have been here, somebody wouldn't have observed that, there's a chance somebody could have been very seriously injured or even worse," said Ambridge Fire Chief Rob Gottschalk.
No one was injured and there's no word on the cause of the fire. The fire chief believes the house is a total loss.

AMBRIDGE, Pa. —

Five striking teachers in a Pittsburgh school district picket line dropped their signs to run inside a burning house nearby and rescue three people inside, including a former student.

Local firefighters battled the six-alarm fire in bitter cold with help from neighboring towns Thursday. It was a handful of striking teachers protesting by the schools across Duss Avenue who got the occupants out.

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"We were picketing and a lady across the street started shouting, 'Call 911!'" said Paul Hladio, one of the striking teachers.

"Instantaneously, I dropped my sign and ran across the street," said teacher Karen DeMarco.

"I just see her sprint across the road, almost get hit by a car," said Jeff Modrovich, another striking teacher who joined in the rescue, along with Pete Keller and Todd Hartman.

The teachers put themselves in danger to get inside the burning house.

"There was smoke pouring out of the roof, and we were pounding. I was pounding the front door, and eventually I think the front door just kicked through," DeMarco told Pittsburgh's Action News 4.

"I've never run into a building before that was on fire," Hladio said.

"She's already in the front door, I'm yelling, 'Anybody in the house, get out!' you know, 'It's on fire!'" Modrovich said.

Then the teachers found three people who lived in the home: one, elderly; one of them with medical oxygen; one, a woman whom they once taught.

"Kayla's a former student of mine and I just felt I had to do something to get that family out," DeMarco said.

"The grandfather, elderly, he had had trouble walking," Modrovich said.

"We made sure we got the oxygen out or turned it off and made sure to help them out of the building," Hladio said.

Once they were all out of the house, they saw the fire get worse.

"After a couple of minutes, you saw the flames shooting out of the roof," Modrovich said.

"If the teachers wouldn't have been here, somebody wouldn't have observed that, there's a chance somebody could have been very seriously injured or even worse," said Ambridge Fire Chief Rob Gottschalk.

No one was injured and there's no word on the cause of the fire. The fire chief believes the house is a total loss.